


A little bit of give and take

by maple_clef



Category: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: Banter, Blackmail, Epic Friendship, Gen, Humor, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3389138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maple_clef/pseuds/maple_clef
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has something Nightingale wants. Nightingale, likewise, has something that Peter wants. They come to a mutually beneficial arrangement...</p>
<p><i>Totally</i> not as smutty as this makes it sound... Sorry!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A little bit of give and take

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sixthlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sixthlight/gifts).



> Written in response to a prompt from Sixthlight, who wanted to see a negotiation of this sort (based on something Ben Aaronovitch said at a recent book signing).

‘What are the magic words?’ I asked, because Nightingale may be my boss, and an extraordinarily powerful wizard, but the one thing I have – the one bit of power over him, if you will – is a certain degree of knowledge of certain _matters_ outside his otherwise extensive experience. In this instance, matters technological.

Nightingale sighed. ‘I don’t suppose the traditional “please, Peter” is what you’re after, in this instance?’

‘You know what I want, sir,’ I chided. ‘And until you give it to me, you don’t get what you want either. We will spend the rest of the evening unsatisfied.’

As soon as I’d said it, I wondered if this was perhaps a step too far, a bit risqué – but gratifyingly, Nightingale laughed.

‘Fine. You’re far too cunning for your own good, constable, but fortunately for you this is a particular weakness of mine,’ he said. ‘Besides, by rights I think I do owe you already.’

‘Then say the words,’ I said, with mock formality.

‘Yes, you can have a look through some of David’s papers. One box only, mind,’ said Nightingale, ‘and when the programme’s over, the box goes back. Are we agreed on this?’

I gave my agreement, and he vanished off somewhere into the depths of the Folly. Now, I have a few ideas about where he might keep his stash of motivational-slash-blackmail material, but I haven’t bothered to actively look for anything. Apart from the vague idea that it would be a bit of a betrayal of Nightingale’s trust, sneaking around behind his back, you never know what other weird bollocks is stashed away in this place.

As I waited for him to return to the coach house, I woke up my laptop and found the folder where I’d hidden the next episode of _The Goon Show_. Currently unavailable via the official channels (also known as the BBC Listen Again website), I may have procured said material using less than legal means, but I didn’t think I should burden Nightingale with this information – and besides, we pay the licence fee.

Nightingale purports to be a confirmed luddite, but I happen to know he’s been taking lessons from Molly on how to use the computer. That gave me a laugh, when I found out. It’s actually adorable; neither of them know that I know, but the keylogger I installed has yielded some _very_ interesting data. What this means is theoretically Nightingale may one day be able to work out the Explorer function, and how to find folders – and what _that_ means is I have taken to squirrelling the audio files away in obscure places and hidden folders.

He has his hiding places, I have mine. What can I say; a man’s got to have some secrets from his boss slash housemate slash magic teacher.

I queued the episode in the media player just as Nightingale arrived back with the notes. As if enacting some sort of bizarre hostage exchange, we met in the middle of the room and handed over our respective treasure, then retreated to opposite ends of the sofa – Nightingale slightly incongruously sporting my Beats by Dre headphones – to enjoy it.

All I’m going to say is that both of us _were_ thoroughly satisfied that evening.

We’ve got another hostage exchange planned for next Sunday.


End file.
